The new Federal Government was fortunate in beginning its career at the moment when returning prosperity was predisposing the people to think well of it. The inauguration of Washington marked the opening of a new era for the people of the United States of America.
APPENDIX ¹
¹ The documents in this Appendix follow the text of the Revised Statutes of the United States, Second Edition, 1878.
[THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE—1776.]
In Congress, July 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.